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Abstract
This study examined the effects of age on single- and dual-task listening and walking during virtual street crossing. Seventeen younger and 12 older adults participated. In each listening trial, three sentences were presented simultaneously from separate locations. Participants were instructed to report the target sentence. Predictability of the target sentence location was varied. Treadmill walking was measured using motion analysis. Measures included word recognition accuracy, head and trunk angles, and spatiotemporal gait parameters. Older adults exhibited a more upright head alignment and less variability in stride time during dual-tasking, particularly under less certain target sentence location conditions. Younger adults’ walking was unaffected by dual-task demands. Together, the results indicate greater postural prioritization in older adults than young.
Acknowledgements
We thank Vaibhaviben Patel, Evgeni Alexandrov, Nalian Youmer, and Linda Truong for data collection, Bruce Haycock for programing, and Susan Gorski and Larry Crichlow, for their technical assistance.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 An additional 8 younger adults and 34 OAs did not complete the full study. Of these individuals, 3 younger adults and 3 OAs were not available or failed to complete the second session, 1 younger adult and 23 OAs did not meet the criteria for hearing despite self-reporting normal hearing, 3 OAs did not meet the MoCA score criterion, and 1 younger adult did not continue because of poor health.
2 Seven younger adults and 5 OAs performed 30 listening trials and 8 street crossings for the walking blocks. In subsequent testing, the sessions were shortened to reduce fatigue, such that 20 listening trials and 4 street crossings were completed. Thus, we truncated the data for the first 12 participants to match those from the shorter sessions. Paired samples t-tests were conducted to compare participants who underwent the longer versus the shorter protocol. The analyses including session length yielded no group differences or interactions. The data were therefore pooled for all reported analyses.
3 To confirm that participants complied with instructions not to turn their head sideways, head and trunk yaw were analyzed, revealing no significant age group or condition effects.